THS Golf Swings into Action
Tillamook County Wellness Page 10
Headlight Herald Page 9
TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2022
TILLAMOOK, OREGON • WWW.TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM
VOL. 134, NO. 13 • $1.50
BOCC distributes $5.2 million in ARPA funding T
Ashley Tike Staff Writer
he Tillamook County Board of Commissioners, Mary Faith Bell, Erin D. Skaar and David Yamamoto met Wednesday, March 23 for their weekly board meeting at the county courthouse. The meeting covered 17 items including approval for Tillamook Public Works to purchase a 5-ton mini excavator and for Tillamook County Fairgrounds to make advances with their WiFi Project. The highlight of the meeting was a 3-0 commissioner approval of the distribution of money in the amount of $4.7 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funding Awards across 33 Tillamook County organizations. Tillamook County was awarded $5.2 million total in ARPA Funds, however, the county allocated $530,698 toward specific improvements, leaving $4.7 million to distribute for other projects. The federal government separately awarded The Rinehart Medical Clinic of Wheeler $674,000 in ARPA funding to relo-
cate their center. “This was a really difficult project because we received so many requests; we spent a lot of time in public meetings discussing this,” Commissioner Mary Faith Bell said. On the list of unfunded projects was the “Shilo Training Levee Repair” which requested $3.2 million for levee repairs benefiting the densely populated, developed area near Fred Meyer, Shilo Inn and Five Rivers Café. Tilda Chadwick Jones from the Tillamook Bay Flood Improvement District was disappointed that the Tillamook Board of County Commissioners trumped their own priority for ARPA funding. “BOCC is designating a very large percentage of the funds for bureaucratic nonpublic safety construction projects such as plans, assessments, digital systems, management and county employees benefits,” she said in an email to the Headlight Herald. There were 112 projects submitted by the community and by county
n See ARPA, Page A2
EXCLUSIVE Tillamook County Court House. Photo by Ashley Tike
ORIGINAL
Tough break for 26 families evicted from Tillamook Coast RV Park Housing crisis leaves families with few options
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Ashley Tike Staff Writer
unday, March 20, 26 families residing at the Tillamook Coast RV Park were served eviction papers and given either 30 or 90 days to vacate their spots. The RV park was recently bought by Casey and Riley Shannon, brothers from Bend, Oregon whom have major construction projects planned for the RV park. The Shannon family owns other RV parks across the state and they said they have goals of making improvements to the park and to hire new management. Adding that they are awaiting approval from the county to move forward with their plans. Lori Craig works at a Tillamook grocery store and was among those to receive eviction papers. “I find it really funny how everyone complains about the homeless problem and lack of housing yet the city and the county
EXCLUSIVE Tillamook Coast RV Park entrance. Photos by Ashley Tike leave,” she added. There is a housing crisis in Tillamook; the city offers slim options for low-income rental properties. Many of these residents have been at the Tillamook Coast RV Park for years and had plans to continue their stay as they hold jobs at Tillamook
Part of the issue residents are having is most RV parks do not allow converted buses or older model trailers. let developers come in and put people out of their homes, contributing to the problem,” Craig said. According to Craig, it’s difficult to find an RV park that will accept a converted school bus or any trailer that’s older or looks old. “I’ve been asking around and networking to see if anyone would take us but haven’t found anything yet,” She said “I work in town at a job that I love at the grocery store, I pay my bills in cash every month and I love living in this area but I feel like I’m being forced to
businesses. Families with young children, retired teachers and U.S. veterans living on a fixed income all called the Tillamook Coast RV Park home. They either can’t afford anything else, or have chosen the RV park lifestyle. U.S. Veteran, Tom Swanson ‘Swanee’ and his wife Kathy were upset they were served eviction papers with such little notice but have been lucky enough to already find a new place to go. “Take a look around, we’re on the verge and so is everyone else,” said Swanee “These 26 families could be out on the street after this, they have to move their trailers out and some don’t know where yet.” Swanee’s wife Kathy said that she will miss living at Tillamook Coast RV Park because of how quiet it is and the wonderful community of
ORIGINAL
people they have formed over the years. She said she loves fishing in the creek with her grandkids. The small RV park community has gone through a lot together; banding together through challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple accidental RV fires and 2 deaths that have occurred in the park in recent years. “Finding a new spot in 30 days heading right into the summer season is almost impossible,” Summer Wood a resident of the RV park said, “Most places are full, or won’t accept my large dogs or my trailer because it’s older than 10 years, I’ve been looking for somewhere and paying $55 for each park application.” Similar to applying for a lease to an apartment, there are multiple obstacles to go through to be accepted into an RV park long-term stay agreement. There are background checks, first and last month deposit payments; in addition, most Oregon RV parks raise their prices for the busy Summer season, in April. The timing of this eviction leaves these people to find a new place to call home in the most expensive time of the year. “It’s counterproductive for a town like Tillamook to do something like this, you kinda want to keep your workforce living at least in the Tillamook area, but they keep pushing the blue collar workers away because there’s no housing options,” said Lori Craig RV park resident. “Everyone in the park is scrambling to find a new place to go and it’s just sad to see everyone get uprooted, this is our home, we built a dog park and have a community garden,” Jesse Dupont said “These people haven’t had an easy time of things, they don’t have anyone to help them – I don’t know how they’ll handle this, they’ll have to find a way because they don’t have a choice.” Comments: headlightreporter@ countrymedia.net
Tillamook K9 Rescue photos by Ashley Tike
Tillamook K9 Rescue receives grant funding from TPUD
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Ashley Tike Staff Writer
illamook K9 Rescue is a recipient of the 2022 Tillamook PUD Community Support Grant Program. The grant dollars provided along with donations from the community, volunteer labor and fundraising efforts will be used to make updates to their shelter that will improve overall safety and well being of the animals in their care and the volunteers that care for them. These plans include; adding gate at the entrance to the shelter so that uninvited people can no longer easily access the area, adding a third play yard for smaller dogs, adding lighting outside to all play yards and around the shelter areas to increase visibility in the area at night, adding a security system that records, adding a small building for stressed dogs who are anxious being somewhere with other animals, replacing the existing kennel doors, updating heaters for kennel areas, and lastly adding a structure with a wash station for the pups. Nonda Zwald and Michelle Dewey of Tillamook K9 Rescue
along with their team of volunteers work hard to ensure the safety of Tillamook’s community dogs during the transition back to their owner or finding a safe and appropriate home for those unable to return to their owner. They are a non-profit dog rescue that works strictly with law enforcement, dogs at large, and when animal owners are sent to jail or the hospital. The dogs that end up at Tillamook K9 Rescue are not only cared for, they are loved. This local organization works hard and is more than deserving of this year’s PUD grant money. Visit their Facebook page for more information and to see cute dog photos, facebook.com/ Tillamookk9rescue Tillamook K9 Rescue is always seeking donations: https://www.paypal.com/biz/ fund?id=ZXQ5D8Z2L9DNC For more information please call 866-364-7377 or email tillamookk9@gmail.com. If you have found a stray or abandoned dog, please call TCSO Dispatch 503-8151911 to have them picked up. Comments: headlightreporter@ countrymedia.net